Apple announced today that Burberry’s CEO, Angela Ahrendts will be filling the company’s vacancy as Senior VP of Retail and online stores, and while the move came as a surprise to many, Tim Cook says he had been eyeing the Burberry CEO for sometime now.
In an internal email sent to employees this morning, Cook says that he’s wanted to steal Ahrendts away from Burberry from the first time they met in January of this year. Cook describes Angela as “wicked smart” while also being an extraordinary leader with a proven track record. Ahrendts is set to join Apple in spring 2014 as she transitions over from Burberry.
Sparrow was once my favorite third-party email clients for Mac and iOS, but after its creators were bought by Google last year, the likelihood of improvements and new features seemed to go out of the window. And indeed, the app has been all but ignored since the acquisition — until it got a surprise update today.
We’re still waiting for Apple to send out invitations to a press event on October 22, where we expect the Cupertino company to announce new iPads and possibly new MacBook Pros. According to a new rumor that has surfaced today, the new devices will go on sale before the end of the month, while the new Mac Pro will make its debut in mid-November.
After a meeting that stretched over four-and-a-half hours, the Cupertino City Council gave Apple’s new campus the green light.
Two years have passed since Steve Jobs pitched the futuristic new headquarters to the town where he met Steve Wozniak as a high school student. Designed by Sir Norman Foster, at 176-acre Apple Campus 2 will be one of the largest building complexes in the world.
Dozens of locals came to testify that, in effect, this is a modern company town — the sentiment from former Apple employees, enthusiastic local business owners (“Apple engineers need our coffee!”), retired teachers and even environmental groups was overwhelmingly positive — concerns over what happens when you land such a huge project in one’s backyard were numerous.
Naysayers (one of them called himself the “loneliest man in the room”) complained about the inevitable traffic brought by 16,000 Apple employees (a number expected to blossom to 24,000) who will be driving to and from work when the massive project is completed. Other concerns were voiced about the security measures that keep the campus closed to the public and shut off a stretch of Calabazas Creek to hikers.
The 60-foot-high “fruit loop” will change the profile of the town of about 60,000, that’s for sure. Here’s hoping it’s for the better. More on the meeting and its impromptu tribute to Steve Jobs here.
Stay tuned, after this unanimous vote the council has one more procedural vote before Apple can break ground.
iOS 7 had been available to the public for just 27 days as of Monday, October 14 — and it had already been installed on 71% of all iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. That’s according to the latest report from Mixpanel which suggests iOS 7 could be the fastest-spreading iOS update to date.
Touch ID has received all kinds of praise since it made its debut on the iPhone 5s last month, so naturally, the question everyone’s asking is whether the new fingerprint-scanning technology will make its way to other iOS devices.
We’ve already seen evidence that suggests it will come to the second-generation iPad mini, and the blurry picture above seems to prove that Touch ID is also coming to the fifth-generation iPad, alongside its all-new design.
Although his products now touch every aspect of our modern lives, we all tend to be agnostics when it comes to Jony Ive. Even as he appears on video during Apple’s developers’ conference to speak with soft-spoken intensity about the design of the latest iPhone or iPad, his personality seems inherently unknowable. Yet it is possible to know Jony Ive. He’s at least one person’s friend.
Granted, that friend, Marc Newson, is a design legend in his own right. For over 15 years, he and Ive have laughed together, talked about cars together (a mutual love), and vacationed together. During that time, they have shared countless conversations about the purity of form, material, and process that drives them both. About designs they like, and designs they don’t like.
So when you look at the (RED) Desk, which will be auctioned off on November 2nd by Sotheby’s to raise money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, it’s important to see something more than just a collaboration between two of the most influential designers on Earth. It is also the physical embodiment of a friendship.
You may have heard of Valve’s new Steam Controller, an integral part of their living room push that makes PC games past, present and future playable on the big screen. The Steam Controller looks pretty crazy, with two trackpad-like controls instead of thumbsticks, and a touchscreen instead of face buttons, but how will it play? Pretty well, from the looks of things.
No matter what you think of Apple’s new iPhone 5c case — and, just for the record, I think it’s an eyesore — I think we can all at least agree that it ooks an awful lot like Mattel’s famous game, Connect Four. If only it actually worked that way…
Well, now it does, thanks to a clever app called Flipcase.
Want to use popular iOS app Snapchat as a way to communicate covertly within your criminal empire? In a new blog post, Snapchat Director of Operations Micah Schaffer explains how Snapchat handles requests from law enforcement agencies for Snaps. And there’s good news and bad news.
Twitter has today introduced the ability for users to receive direct messages from people they choose not to follow. Until now, users had to be following each other to communicate privately, but the new option lets you receive DMs from anyone who follows you.
Apple has today announced that Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, will be joining the Cupertino company to take up a newly-created position as senior vice president of retail and online stores. Ahrendts will report directly to CEO Tim Cook and will oversee the strategic direction, expansion, and operation of Apple’s retail business.
The second-gen iPad mini is widely expected to get a Retina display, although the rumor mill has been going back and forth on the notion for several months. But as the release date for the tablet draws nearer, the consensus seems to be that Retina is a go.
Apple is known for aggressively slimming down its products with each new iteration, but to accommodate a Retina display, it’s very possible that the second-gen iPad mini could actually get a little thicker.
The now 14-year-old app developer we introduced to you last year, Nicholas G, has just released a second app, putting all of us adults to shame yet again.
This year, Nicholas has put together a rather impressive looking tip calculator that makes it super easy to figure out an accurate tip without all that pesky math.
Called Quick Tips!! (yes, the exclamation marks are part of the charm), Nicholas’ latest app uses all the visual style of iOS 7 and it looks to be pretty as well as functional.
Tim Cook and the gang are set to take the stage in eight days to announce the newest lineup of iPads, but if a new set of leaked iPad shells are the real deal, we’ll have already seen all the new iPad colors before Schiller and Jony can wax poetic about how the iPad is unapologetically gold.
A new set of images allegedly showing both a gold iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 rear shell have been leaked by the Chinese site CTech, however it’s questionable whether they’re real, so have your salt shaker ready. If the images are accurate, the iPad will follow the same course as the iPhone 5s with Apple offering both models in silver, space gray, and gold.
Here’s another pic of the puportedly gold iPad shell:
The iPad 5 is set to be unveiled on October 22nd, but thanks to all the leaks of rear shells, displays, and more, we pretty much already know what its going to look like when Cookie finally drops the curtain next week.
However, if you’re just dying for more glimpses of Apple’s new tablet before it comes out, our friend Martin Hajek has got you covered with these new renders that show what Jony’s latest slab of silicon, glass and aluminium will look like once its resting peacefully in the Apple Store sanctuaries.
The iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c are to make their debut on Cricket on October 25, the carrier announced today. Customers won’t be able to pre-order the device in advance, but you can register your interest on Cricket’s website if you wish to receive details on pricing and more before the devices go on sale.
While the iPhone 5s is still difficult to get hold of more than three weeks after its debut — particularly if you want a gold or silver model — you shouldn’t have any problem picking up an iPhone 5c at your local Apple store. That’s because the cheaper device isn’t selling anywhere near as much as its high-end sibling.
According to new research from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), the iPhone 5s is currently outselling the iPhone 5c more than two to one.
Apple’s iPhone trade-in program, which made its debut in the United States back in August, is now available in retail stores across the U.K. starting today. The new scheme lets consumer take in their old iPhones and trade them for Apple store credit that they can then put towards a new device.
1Password, the popular password manager from AgileBits, has today been updated to finally support Wi-Fi syncing between Mac and iOS devices. The update also adds the ability to change the built-in browser’s user agent, and improves support for the latest iOS 7 firmware.
Further evidence to suggest that the new iPhones are almost ready for their long-awaited debut on China Mobile — the world’s largest carrier — has surfaced today after both the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c gained regulatory approval for the carrier’s TD-LTE network.
Telltale’s follow up to hit adventure game The Walking Dead has been delayed for Mac, due to “an unforeseen issue with the Mac version of Episode 1,” whatever that means. The Wolf Among Us is an episode-based adaptation of Vetigo’s Fable, a graphic novel set in the real world with mythical fairy tale creatures like Snow White, Jack Frost, Pinocchio, and–of course–the Big Bad Wolf.
The game publisher updated its original blog post announcement of the October 11 release to say that it “is working on an update right now and expect to have the Mac build live on Steam and the Telltale website within the next few days.”
Who’s got a wad of 20s and a burning sensation in his pocket? This guy! But seriously friends… October 22nd, 2013. Go ahead and insert that date into your iOS 7s, because even though they haven’t confirmed it yet, that’s the day Apple will be unveiling two new iPads unto the world. But will we see new MacBooks, Mac Pros, and the other tasty tech we’ve been wishing for? Hit play on our newest CultCast, where we reveal our hopes, dreams, and expectations.
Whatcha waiting for? Have a few laughs and get caught up on each week’s best Apple stories. Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let baseline roll!
This week Cult of Mac Magazine gets serious about games with an issue dedicated to one of our favorite pastimes.
We’ve never bought into the idea that video games turn your brain to mush (sorry mom!) and this issue explores the games that are doing good — the growing market for empathy games that strive to make us all better people. (The retro-tastic cover is the handiwork of Craig Grannell, the designing force behind the magazine.)
We also look at games that are engaging enough to convince the non-gamers you know to take up the controller, what to play when you’re sick of the blockbusters and our Games Editor Rob LeFebvre tells you how to get your game on our radar for a review.
The latest issue is available in the App Store. Let the games begin!
Instagram recently received a minor update with bug fixes, and you may not have noticed that a small setting is no longer present in the iPhone app. You used to be able to disable autoplay for videos, but now the only video options are for sound and preloading over Wi-Fi-only.
The change may not seem that significant at first, but when you consider that Instagram is about to introduce video ads, it makes more sense.
Instagram told Engadget that “it disabled the option due to “confusion” from users regarding what clips will play with sound,” but it just so happens that the decision is also a nice bonus for potential advertisers. Who wants to sell video ads to people when they could just disable them with a quick toggle?
